More than 57 lakh healthcare and frontline staff have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the country so far, making India the third country in the world with the highest doses of vaccination, the Ministry of Health said today. It claimed that only the United States and the United Kingdom remain ahead of India.
To date, 57,75,322 beneficiaries have taken vaccine jabs in 1,15,178 sessions – 53,04,546 healthcare professionals and 4,70,776 frontline workers, the government said.
Yesterday, in 8,875 sessions, 3,58,473 beneficiaries were vaccinated.
Uttar Pradesh had the largest number of 6,73,542 beneficiaries, followed by 4,73,480 in Maharashtra and 4,59,652 in Rajasthan. More than two lakh recipients each were vaccinated by 12 states, the government said.
12 States in India have vaccinated more than 2 lakh beneficiaries each. pic.twitter.com/54Lg5qw1YO
— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) February 7, 2021
The Centre recommended that states increase the percentage coverage of vaccinated recipients and instructed that all healthcare workers should be scheduled for vaccination at least once before 20 February.
“States/ UTs were advised to ensure regular review meetings of the State, District and Block Task Force to assess the emerging challenges, understand the ground issues and promptly address them at the appropriate levels,” States/UTs were advised to ensure regular review meetings of the State, District and Block Task Force to assess the emerging challenges, understand the underlying issues and address them promptly at the appropriate levels.
Similarly, all frontline staff must be scheduled for vaccination at least once before March 6, 2021, and arrange mop-up rounds for them immediately thereafter. Failure to get vaccinated by potential beneficiaries in the mop-up round would automatically force them into the age-appropriate category of vaccination. The second dose of the vaccine is also scheduled to start on February 13, 2021, for the age-appropriate category of vaccination.
India recorded 12,059 new infections in the last 24 hours this morning, bringing its COVID-19 case count to 1,08,26,363. The ministry said that seventy-eight people lost their lives during the period, adding that this is the third time this month that the number of deaths has dropped below 100.
According to the government, there are 1,48,766 active coronavirus infections in the world, comprising 1.37 per cent of the total caseload.